A particularly difficult problem that confronts golfers is estimating the distance from the golfer's ball to the green and other features which control play prior to each shot. Distance to these points or across certain obstacles determines club selection, and without an accurate determination of this distance, club selection is merely a guess on the part of a player. If the guess is wrong, even where the line of travel is accurate, the shot will be either too short or too long and thus prevent an optimum score.
The problem is particularly acute where the golfer is not familiar with the golf course. Each golf hole is unique in layout and topographical features. If a golfer plays the same course a number of times, he or she becomes aware of these unique features and is able to utilize different landmarks or features relative to his or her own capability and to do a relatively satisfactory job in club selection from various points on the course.
However, on a course where the golfer has never played, or simply is not overly familiar with course layout, distance, features and the like, his or her score will likely be much higher simply from the inability to accurately determine the distance from the golf ball to the target area on each shot.